Book Review: The Other 8 Hours

Before I started Get Rich Slowly, I was a slacker. I’d get up in the morning and drive to a job I hated where I gave almost no effort. When I came home in the evening, I’d fritter away my time: I watched TV, played Magic: The Gathering, and — most of all — whiled away the hours with World of Warcraft or other computer games.

As I started my financial turnaround, I made a conscious decision to make better use of my time. I slept for about eight hours a day, and I worked for about eight hours a day, but I could use the other eight hours for anything I wanted, including finding ways to get out of debt and build wealth. I believe this decision changed my life.

Obviously, I’m not the first to realize that the smart use of free time can contribute to a better life. Many others have made this discovery, too. And in Robert Pagliarini’s recent book The Other 8 Hours, the author lays out a plan to help readers “maximize your free time to create new wealth and purpose”.

Note: If Pagliarini’s name sounds familiar, it’s because I’ve mentioned him a couple of times before at this site. In fact, he’s the source of my idea to use purpose-driven investing to achieve your goals. In his 2006 book The Six-Day Financial Makeover, Pagliarini advises readers to use separate savings accounts to pursue your different goals. I loved this idea so much that I adopted it in my own life, and it’s become one of my main financial tools.

Here’s how Pagliarini describes his thesis in the book’s introduction:

This book is about the 8 hours in the day when you are not working or sleeping. This “free” time is the most valuable resource you have to achieve your ideal life…How you spend the other 8 hours determines where you are in life, your happiness, your weight, your level of debt, the satisfaction you have with your relationships, the car you drive, the languages you speak, your love life, your education, the places you travel, your bank account balance, and just about everything else that is important to you.

The Other 8 Hours is divided into four sections, each of which lays out the author’s case that it’s what you do in your free time that determines whether you achieve your goals — or simply get by. Let’s take a quick look at each part of the book.

Get a clue
This short section doesn’t contain any practical advice. Instead, it’s a catalog of modern ills. Americans, says Pagliarini, are working harder for less money than ever before. And they’re not happy about it. He lists all of the things that contribute to this problem, but doesn’t offer any solutions — yet.

Get more time
The second section of the book offers ideas for finding more time, and making better use of the time you have. “The goal isn’t to cram more into your day,” writes Pagliarini, “it’s to get more out of your day. The more of the other 8 hours you have, the more you can focus on those pursuits that make your life more fulfilled.” To that end, he covers six ways to reclaim your free time:

Take control of your time. Prioritize your activities. If something is important to you — exercise, learning French, writing a book — then do it and let the unimportant stuff wait.

Get 9 hours out of 8. The book suggests you can get more time to do what you want by outsourcing parts of your life. You can also boost your time and income by taking a second job that lets you multitask.

Practice limited multitasking. Pagliarini says you can make the most of your time by “chunking” mental and physical tasks together. For example, you might listen to an audiobook while driving to work. Or do brainstorming/planning while exercising every day.

Tap into the power of positive thinking. The author emphasizes the needs for “sparks” that help trigger the behavior changes you’re after. (I’m trying to implement sparks in my own life to improve my fitness, by the way.)

Use technology to your advantage. Don’t use technology for its own sake, but don’t be afraid to use a tool if it’s going to improve your life and give you more time. (I’ve recently begun using DropBox, for example, because it reduces the time I spend shuffling files around.)

The Other 8 Hours has an entire chapter on LifeLeeches, those seductive activities that suck all of our time. These include the obvious — blogs, television, videogames — but also some subtle LifeLeeches such as maximizing, gossiping, and disorganization.

Get more money
The heart of the book (over half its content) describes how you can make the leap from passive consumer to active Cre8tor™. Cre8tor™ is Pagliarini’s term for folks who make things, and in this section he urges readers to tap into their entrepreneurial side. He writes:

With very few exceptions, anybody who has attained any level of financial success has created something. It might be a book, a CD, an invention, or a Web site. Look around you. Everything you see was originally just an idea in someone’s head…It took vision, determination, and action to turn those ideas into what you see today.

Pagliarini then includes his list of top 10 Cre8tor™ channels, including blogging, inventing, starting a company, freelancing, and turning hobbies into income. For each “channel”, he offers basic guidelines and resources for getting started. As a huge proponent of earning extra income, I liked this section. I wish more people understood how quickly they could improve their cash flow by boosting income.

Get a life
One of my mantras is that it’s more important to be happy than to be rich. The final section of The Other 8 Hours explores this notion in depth. Pagliarini argues that to really live, you have to stop dreaming and start doing. It’s not enough to merely want something; you have to take it upon yourself to set goals that are meaningful to your life, and then to work toward achieving them.

A minor complaintThe Other 8 Hours is a fine introduction to the concept of reclaiming your free time. There aren’t any earth-shattering revelations here, but there are plenty of practical tips for getting more out of life.

My primary complaint with the book is that it sometimes feels “gimmicky”. The Other 8 Hours contains quizzes and flowcharts and buzzwords. Lots of buzzwords: 4 Strikes, Goal Action Plan, LifeLeech, HABU, and, of course, Cre8tor™.

While I agree with Pagliarini’s premise — we should ditch life-leeches, free more time to be creative, and do stuff — I loathe the term Cre8tor™ (which I sometimes found myself reading as “crebtor”). I have a strong dislike for any fabricated trademarked representation of common concepts. Why not just say “creator” (or “Creator”)? This may seem like a minor complaint, but the book is packed with uses of Cre8tor™, and every one of them was like nails on a chalkboard to me. It diminishes the impact of Pagliarini’s message.

Hypocrite alert: Yes, this complaint is coming from the man who uses the term Stuff all the time, both on the blog and in his own book. But I’m writing Stuff and not $tuff™. Does that make it better?

Mostly, though, I like The Other 8 Hours. I agree with Pagliarini’s premise, and support his effort to get people to use their time wisely.

All the same, I think it’s important to not turn the other 8 hours into just another period of work. Turn off the television? Sure. Disconnect from the internet? You bet. (My technological sabbath last Saturday was awesome!) But don’t just pursue more work for work’s sake. You run the risk of becoming a workaholic, and there’s no more happiness to be found there than in squandering your other 8 hours on World of Warcraft. Instead, use your time for constructive fun, to pursue those activities that bring meaning and passion to your life.

For me, I really struggle with getting the most out of my other 8. I think I am not alone. Work is easy because you know what you have to do and how long you have to do it. But, the other 8 is much harder.

I think back to when I was in elementary school and high school, I did all kinds of activities – Boy Scouts, football, band, model rocket club (okay that one is embarrassing to admit). As an adult it seems harder to do these types of activities.

I certainly agree with the ideas of the book but I don’t find it to be very realistic (for my situation). I think the hardest part of getting the most out of the other 8 is that currently I don’t have the other 8. Sleep = 8, Work + Commute = 11, Meals + family time = at least 1-2 hours. That leaves me at 20 to 21 hours provided I don’t really do much with my family during the week. Now we’re looking at the other 3-4 hours.

3-4 hours is nothing to sneeze at but it certainly isn’t 8. And I can’t believe that I’m unique in this situation. Obviously the largest portion of my time is tied up in my full time job (45+ minute commute each way) and changing jobs to be closer to where I live will help out drastically (I’m still looking) but in the meantime books like this are more inspirational than practical.

Thanks for the review!
This is one truth that am trying to get right in my life. For the last six years, i have felt like i do not have enough time to do what i wanted to do. Other things seemed to take priority of my 24hrs in a day. Infact, the last time i slept all eight hours i was propably sick. But am now re-examining my priorites..

I agree with Ben. Who has eight hours of free time each day? Even if you do, it’s broken up into small segments. I assume he’s counting your lunch hour? And the time you shower and get ready in the morning? I don’t really consider that free time. My husband and I have around two hours tops in the evening after the kids are in bed, and some of that is taken up by doing dishes and getting ready for the next day. I don’t feel the slightest twinge of guilt about spending the bulk of that small amount of time in front of the computer or the boob tube watching whatever we have recorded on the DVR. It’s what keeps me sane!

This book is definitely going on my reading list, the number 8 has both spiritual and biblical meaning, which reasonates with me, so I probably will not mind the Cre8tor term as much. Besides if you dig deep enough into any self-help book – every author has their quirks, and every message has its components that will not be explicitly applicable. My motto is to take what you can use, tweak what you can, and disregard the rest. This author is also being reviewed on the most recent edition Consumerism Commentary Podcast. The author still makes a compelling point – especially with multi-tasking. I listen to two finance-related podcasts, I’ve started to wash dishes, my most dreaded chore, and organize or shred the PAPER of life, bills, junk mail, etc during that time. Taking a brisk walk on your lunch hour and just having a smoothie incorporates excerise. Reading a book instead of gossiping or just rehasing the disappointing aspects of your day on lunch may be reinvigorating. Spending thirty minutes learning a new language every evening could add some excitement into your life. So many people have become drones. I used to be one, working and going to school in the evening, I felt like the ‘walking dead’. I never want to go back to that life again. Too many times, if someone comes along to encourage a different way of life – we rebel stating, “you just don’t know how my life is….” – well, we all have challenges but life is too short and too precious not to be committed to adding some depth and dimension to our lives in whatever way we can!

This review made my eyes glaze over, not because your review wasn’t well written, but because when I chose to be a mother to 4 my free time was almost completely eradicated. I can’t even begin to imagine having a complete full hour of free time daily, let alone finding 8. I’m off to give myself a pep talk, the one that goes “this is only for a season your life”. Time to rally the troops for the day.

I hear this kind of message all the time, and truthfully, it’s starting to bug me a little.

I work full-time. I go to work early so I can leave early to spend time with my daughter. I come home and romp around the house/parks with a toddler for several hours before feeding her, reading her books, getting her ready for bed – all exhausting activities, especially because toddlers are not known to be the most co-operative people in the world.

I have two hours to myself before I go to bed and start all over again.

Why is it such a bad thing to want to turn off my brain and watch tv for two hours??? Don’t I deserve it? I can’t stand hearing what sounds to me like the latest trendy thing – “Oh, I don’t have a tv, it’s such a waste of time!”

Relaxing and recharging for the next day is not a waste of time. I am defending my intake of America’s Next Model. I love it, I am not ashamed and you can’t make me give it up!!

Just want to make note that the last 2 commenters are women (as am I) and as such, this book sounds like something written for men who have “outsourced” all the life tasks they have encouraged us to build our own lives around. I am soooo sick of the whole attitude that women are born to be live-in servants (I sure as heck am not), but in practice our society is still very much invested in keeping us there.

Not that there’s anything wrong with encouraging everyone toward self-fulfillment – but until women have the same privileges and freedom as men to do that, a book like this is going to sound a bit specious to about half the population (add to this men who have extra-long commutes or who don’t have servants to outsource to, etc.)

Great review, JD. And yeah the cutesy spelling is maddening. It is hard to carve out time in the day for quiet time/contemplation/exercise/growth.
My life really began to change when I started getting up at 5am. That gives me two hours to write, read and grow as a person. I don’t have kids so I know that my time is more my own than some people’s. When you want it badly enough, you can find the time.

I have to agree with what others have said. 8 hours…maybe total a week. I don’t sleep 8 hours a night, which enables me to work out in the morning before I head to my first job. 30 minute commute, 8-9 hour work day plus a 30 minute lunch, so that’s 10-10.5 hours. Then either work the second job or pick up my daughter, make dinner, bath, stories, songs, get her tucked in. Straighten the house, pack the next day’s lunch and get everything ready to go, read about 3 pages of a book before I pass out, do it again the next day.

That said, I think there are probably some excellent tips in this book. Whether we have 8 hours a day or 8 hours a week I would imagine there are ways to be much more efficient with the time we do have. I’m sure this might help me figure out a way to make enough money (though I would never ever be able to call myself a Cre8tor–really?) to cut back on the other jobs. Now if only I could work up the energy!

I think frugality is, once more, key. If you are frugal, you don’t have to get a second job for instance. I am a teacher and I have NEVER availed myself of summer teaching (each course is 7% of my salary). I would rather pinch pennies than lose that time.

And, as a mother, I question outsourcing: cooking with kids, even cleaning with kids (though I admit I am a slob) are FAMILY activities.

I’m not much of a TV watcher, Kim, so that only works if you can also turn off the internet, put away the novels etc too. Although I suppose you can still fit his multitasking advice into a TV hobby – doing the bills or emailing your mum or whatever while watching Lost. Like others I don’t have 8 spare hours in the day – my job often eats up 12 or so and I like my sleep, but waking up early is a good tactic too, if one that only works for me in short bursts.

Some really good points here from everyone. I do think it’s interesting to hear from the parents of young children; it does sound like this book might not be targeted at them, but that doesn’t mean the advice is totally useless.

I’m reminded of what Ramit Sethi says about the “whiners”: if a tip or an article or a whole book doesn’t PRECISELY apply to their EXACT situation, they whine and discount it and assume it contains no value for them. “The Other 8 Hours” is just a catchphrase – whether you have 8 or 6 or 2 hours, the main point is there is likely time in your day that you are not using effectively. I know this is true of myself.

It’s how you CHOOSE to use that time that matters. If you spend it watching TV/decompressing, that’s your choice, but don’t expect your life to change by doing that. I definitely struggle with this concept.

I identify with those that have been a bit critical of the 8 hours extra a day that the author claims we have. Many people I know work more than an 8 hour day so that automatically cuts in, you add in the basics of keeping life going : bathing, commuting, laundry, prepping & cooking food, errands, walking the dog, tidying back up at the end of the day (and add extra for those with children) – I don’t think that most people come close to 8 hours to play with.

I would also guess that most of us are reading Get Rich Slowly because we don’t currently have the money to outsource these chores. And while multi-tasking happens for me daily, I also recognize that I rarely do any action as well or as quickly as when I focus on it alone.

Perhaps I’m missing the author’s point, but I think that the trick is to somehow learn to feel more content and present as we move thru our daily tasks. But I think that I’ll stick with my weekly yoga class for that lesson!

I agree that on weeknights, I do not have even close to 8 hours of free time. However, on weekends, I have lots of time, and I try to use a few hours each weekend to do something productive, such as cleaning my house or working on one of my hobbies. I do like to play computer games and watch movies, but I consider this “recreation” rather than “wasted time”. Two of my hobbies are actually making money for me, so I would like to spend more time at those to help me with my financial goals. Even carving out a few hours a week seems to help. I keep telling myself it will get easier when the kids are grown….but for now with three kids and a full time job, it’s really like having two full time jobs.

I think a lot of us struggle with simply getting all of our Other 8 Hours. I regularly work 10 hour days, adding in commuting time, and extra prepping in evenings and weekends I certainly don’t have 8 Hours.

Although instead of letting these realities discourage me, I am realizing that this should be extra motivation to find extra sources of income and possibly a career change that would let me use my time better.

For those who are noting they don’t have eight hours of free time a day: That may be true, but the author’s main point still stands. If you can find ways to take whatever free time you do have (whether it’s eight hours a day or eight minutes a day) to pursue things that make your life better, you’ll ultimately be happier and more fulfilled than if you spend that time being a passive consumer.

Also, I want to re-iterate that I don’t think there’s anything wrong with spending some time watching TV, playing games, or reading comics. I think some of this is absolutely necessary. But when all of our spare time is spent doing these things, we’re mortgaging our futures…

I agree with the comments here that say few of us actually have 8 hours to use per day, when you factor in work and commute, family time, etc.

It sounds to me the title of the book, and the term cre8tor were used more to sell books than to be a realistic about the actual time we all have available. Just like Tim Ferris’ “4-hour Work Week”. I guarantee that guy spends more than 4 hours per week selling/publicizing his own book!

All of these books claim to have it all figured out. I find the best approach is to take away 1-2 nuggets of information that I can apply to my own life and make minor improvements. This one, however, I will pass on. Thanks for the review!

By reading some comments you’d swear that husbands are still forced upon helpless young girls trained to be obedient housewives. It’s 21st century, ladies! You’re educated, you work, you can choose to marry who you want -or choose not to marry. Stop blaming society and tell your husbands that if you both work outside, housework must be shared.

I think 8 hours is an unrealistic number though. But Mr Pagliarini’s point is still valid.

I know it wouldn’t have made for such a catchy title, but I feel like the book’s premise should include at least minimal time investments in family life/relationships not to mention eating. Even if we only worked 8 hours and slept 8 hours, there’s no way anyone other than a starving hermit has 8 hours of “free” time.

Many of us have a spouse, some have children and hopefully we all have other family and friends that we interact with each day. For me, a large part of my non-working waking hours are spent attending to my family, which is the right use of my time IMO. My personal pursuits (like my blog) happen at night in around 2 hours per day…and it means I get around 6 hours of sleep instead of 8.

“Free time” does not equal “hours with nothing to do.” It’s just all that time you are not working or sleeping. What you do with that time is your choice: hour-long commutes, school, housework, kids. If you’re making excuses you might want to look at the choices you’ve made and see if you’re unhappy with them. They’re your choices.

TV watching is something my husband and I enjoy doing together, but I do have to limit total screen time or my brain gets foggy. I combine commuting and working out by riding my bike at least part way to work. When I’m on transit I read. I have always had a full life with lots of activities, but I make sure that those activities are things that make my life better, and not things that I’ll complain about when people talk about free time.

I’m so glad you mentioned the obnoxious Cre8tor™ bit. That was getting on my nerves from first mention!

I like the basic premise. I’ve become less of a fan of multitasking, though. I used to love it, but I find that it makes it impossible to give both tasks 100 percent or to be fully present, so I try to avoid it these days.

Yes, yes… we all work too much and don’t get enough sleep. But “eight of each” seems to be a common goal, so it’s a valid starting point. The “other eight hours” are exactly that — what’s left in the day.

If the author puts “free” time in quotes, and goes on to suggest strategic multitasking (e.g. – “you might listen to an audiobook while driving to work”), he’s probably not suggesting that we’re lounging on the couch for those other eight hours.

Yet there’s no question for me that I could be more efficient with daily errands and routines — which would conserve both time and mental energy for advancing my longterm goals.

If we become more mindful of “the other 8 hours”, and incorporate a few tips and tools for making better use of them as a result, doesn’t the book succeed in delivering its intended value, regardless of each reader’s individual situation?

I read the 6-day financial makeover book and found it mostly a waste of time (not that it wasn’t decent information, it just wasn’t *new* information, if you know what I mean), so I’m sure I’m not going to read this one.

However … I’d agree with J.D. that many commentors seem to be deliberately missing the point on this one. Without having read the book, you have no idea what Pagliarini may suggest/recommend as ways to make your free time – however much that may be, I don’t have 8 hours a day either! – more productive OR more pleasant OR more profitable. And after all, if you COULD squeeze your full workday (including commute) into 8 hours, wouldn’t you choose to? I sure would.

And if we didn’t want to improve our lives, we wouldn’t read this site, right? The “Get a Life” section could well introduce ideas on how to make your time devoted to family or other relationships more meaningful and rewarding. I don’t see anything in J.D.’s review to indicate that Pagliarini thinks you should spend LESS time with your family.

Following what Ely said at 26, if you find yourself jumping into a defensive crouch about how you use your time, that’s a good sign that you’re not happy about how you use your time. We don’t generally feel compelled to defend activities we truly value.

“What you do with that time is your choice: hour-long commutes, school, housework, kids. If you’re making excuses you might want to look at the choices you’ve made and see if you’re unhappy with them. They’re your choices.”

Second, for everyone who is defending their TV watching, I hope that your non-TV hours are spent really engaging your brain (not just on auto-pilot). If you don’t exercise your mental muscle, you’ll lose it. It’s like physical fitness. I might love to laze around on a hammock for a few hours a day (how relaxing!), but if I’m not working out regularly as well, I’m going to lose muscle, gain weight, and find it harder to break those habits as I get more and more out of shape. The more you “turn off” and watch TV, the harder it becomes to break that habit.

I don’t think TV is evil, I just think that people don’t realize how insidious it is.

Which leaves 2.5 hours to do things that are important to me, like exercising. And don’t tell me I could change those non-disposable hours. I don’t want to think about the consequences of not grooming, I’d love to move/telecommute/get a closer job but that is not happening for a variety of reasons and a girl’s gotta eat.

I think the best advice for not wasting time would be: get rid of your TV.

When I read Free Money Finance’s review of this a month or two ago, I was spending my other 8 hours M-F watching tv, hanging with my husband, and playing with my dogs.

A little more than a month later, my other 8 hours haven’t changed much, but tv time has been replaced with my own blog. I had no idea a blog would take up that much time or that I wouldn’t miss tv!

I still watch my favorite programs on the DVR, but I don’t spend 3 or more hours every day on it. Needless to say, our DVR is getting a bit full and I’m getting pickier…

Even though this wasn’t targeted to my weekends, that’s what changed the most. My husband has taken up another hobby (Curling…to go along with board gaming, Magic: The Gathering, and Rome: Total War) and I’ve started getting out more. I spent all of the last weekend with friends and family instead of the laptop and tv…

To all who say they don’t have 8 hours . . . I completely agree! I “wrote the book” and I don’t have 8 hours of free time. The other 8 hours is a name for the time we are not sleeping or working. Between commuting, eating, spending time with my family, and other commitments, it’s not uncommon for someone to have an hour or two that really belongs to them. The question then becomes, what to do with this time? If you aren’t thrilled with your finances and/or if you want a more meaningful life, this is the time to make it happen–not when you are sleeping or working.

The Other 8 Hours is a tough message and not very consumer friendly. I’m suggesting that you keep your day job (for now) and do some things in whatever free time you can create. The message isn’t think positively and great things will come to you–that book has already been written. The book isn’t how to quit your job and work a couple of hours a week–that book has already been written.

The Other 8 Hour is a hard pill to swallow for many and it’s not for everyone. There are no shortcuts and easy solutions. But if you’ve read the “feel good” stuff but haven’t had much success improving your finances or your life and aren’t afraid to roll up your sleeves, welcome aboard…

I concur with Ben, that the other 8 hours is not really 8. Commutes are often a minimum 15 minutes each way, showering and getting dressed, and then you have to double that if you exercise after work (2nd shower), plus meals.

Assuming you can hire someone to cook for you and clean, the driving and other prep time is still there. Plus, I often lose 15 minutes a day “looking for stuff”, gym clothes, car keys, magazine, etc that even highly organized people have to usually deal with. You can’t run on maximum high efficiency accomplishing tasks all the time unless you leave a wake of mess behind you, I know, every week I try to do this I create at least an hour of work by Friday having to clean up after. I would like to see a chapter discuss *that* issue.

I never buy any of these books. They’re all based around such simple concepts, they seem to be covered well enough by the reviews. This book, for instance, seems to say “don’t waste time on things that won’t improve your life.”

Ok, good message, but I’ve got it now and I don’t need to waste another eight hours reading 300 pages of it.

Making time is easy. Plenty of people will disagree, but I’ve heard plenty of people complain about how they “don’t have time for” whatever it is they want to do. These people generally still spend hours every day doing things they don’t need to do — watching TV and surfing the internet are the biggest ones. I don’t think I’ve ever in my life felt pressed for time except in situations that I’ve caused myself by procrastination. Time is all we’ve got.

Just a few posts up from mine someone says “I don’t have 8 hours” and then says they spend an hour and a half every day “grooming”. There’s an hour and 15 minutes you can recover right there. These people won’t though, cause they’re not willing to give up their routines. They’ll claim this is an absolutely mandatory use of time. Somehow the rest of the world gets by without it, but they just can’t, for whatever reason.

Maybe you still can’t come up with 8 hours, but you can come up with a lot if you’re willing to sacrifice in some other areas or make some changes. For instance, if you honestly commute 20 hours a week, maybe you should consider moving, or getting a closer job, or working part of the time from home. If you’re unwilling to consider these options, you lose the right to complain about the time you spend commuting.

Speaking as someone who doesn’t watch television, only tries to squeeze in a few minutes of reading 3 Economist articles daily, I will say that while I feel much more productive when I move ruthlessly from task to task, there is a mental toll that is taken. I used to have more time to ruminate, think to myself, and this “thinking time” was often when I came up with ideas. So while I agree with the premise of maximizing the time you have, I find that when I do this I lose “processing” time being constantly on the go. Not a criticism on the book, just a comment on the complexity of the issue of free time and how managing it seems to have pitfalls even when we are doing our best to maximize. I feel like I was a lot more creative when I had free time just to sit and think.

Right now I live 10 minutes from work, don’t spend much time on meals, don’t watch TV or spend much time grooming. I also stay up late and don’t sleep more than 7 hours a night. So I use the 6pm-1am window to keep my place minimally clean, exercise, draw, go to art class, read, write a book, and try to learn another language (usually only an hour a week on the language), see my friends/family once or twice a week for dinner. I’m cramming a lot of things into the time, but it’s taken a toll in that I feel I never get to “rest” except for maybe 2 hours on a Sunday afternoon. It’s a constant pursuit of productivity.

I don’t understand how people with children do it. I would never be able to handle those in addition to my goals.

Personally, watching TV, reading novels, and (only recently) playing video games are the activities that I value and enjoy most in my day. While I am also a hobby chef and recently (like, 2 days ago) bought a bicycle, the majority of my free time will always be tv/books/games. The entire reason I have my full-time job is so I can enjoy those things without guilt. I hate that those are decried as the universal time wasters.

I’m happy with how I spend my free time. I do a lot of thinking work at work, so I’m happy enjoying my family, doing small chores, watching anime and psych and big bang theory, reading light novels etc. I used to spend more of my free time on work and that felt good too, but these days I’m happy with my self-improvement time being spent relaxing and bonding. I should surf the internet less at home, but hey.

We do tend to keep self-improvement type books on a shelf next to the toilet. An excellent way to multi-task.

I won’t buy this book just on principle: I hate excessive use of copyright laws. It’s downright abusive at times, and it violates the intent of the original legislation. People invent gimmicks to “own” basic concepts and common sense. I admire Dave Ramsey, who at least admits that his whole business is based around sharing common sense and “what your grandmother would tell you,” and as a result, he doesn’t waste time with excessive copyrights, gimmicks, non-compete clauses for employees, etc.

Also, if you want to instantly increase your time and happiness, turn off your TV. Just try it. Put the thing away for at least a week, since most people watch way more than they think. Though most Americans complain about not having enough time, I believe that studies show that children and adults watch over 4-5 hours a day on average. Rather shocking.

While I feel like I pretty much espouse what the author is describing, I’m having a negative reaction to how he appears to be saying it. I think what’s bothering me the most is the implication that one is wasteful if they don’t use every spare moment available to them (i.e. the LifeLeeches). In my own life, I’ve found that I have periods of intense activity broken up with periods of complete inactivity. This pattern lets me recover mentally and physically, and helps me be more productive overall than if I tried to spend every night working steadily.

The artists I’ve worked with like to talk about the Law of Diminishing Returns–a mental tipping point which once surpassed, the more time you try and dedicate to your creative work beyond it results in increasingly lower quality work. I feel that while essentially this author *is* recommending maintaining a healthy balance and saying no to unnecessary obligations, there seems to be an overlying tone of disapproval towards any sort of “non productive” activity. I think, at least from a creative standpoint, that there is actually real, tangible value in downtime–as long as you are counterbalancing it with some form of action.

I think we all can find more time if we look for it. As many have stated, we make our own choices regarding commuting, grooming, TV time, the number of kids we have, hobbies…

Here are two examples from my own life.
1. I have been growing my hair out for over a year now. I thought I might like long hair again. It’s nice, but it takes me longer and longer to dry it in the morning (about 20 minutes currently). I’ve decided to cut it short again, to make life easier. That’s not to say I won’t have a cute hairstyle that requires styling, but I’ll save time there. It will also make my mornings less stressful.
2. I commute about 30 minutes each way. Before a trip to Paris, I checked out a series of French CDs from the library and listened to those on the road. It helped me bone up on my college French and didn’t take any more time out of my day. Anyone who is interested in a language and has a commute could do the same.

Good catch Paul, it does seem very much like “4 hour work week” with the arbitrary and seemingly unrealistic number.

My first thought was to add up things like hygiene, food preparation, and commuting. I sure don’t feel like I am wasting 8 hours a day. I felt like it was maybe 2 hours a day. On the other hand – maybe with the weekends it averages to 8.

But after reading the comments I agree the message may really be: what are you spending your time on? What do you wish you had time to do? Replace the former with the latter and you will be better off.

However, I continue to disagree that the only way to wealth is to create artistic works, or be entrepreneurial. Entrepreneurial- or artistic-leaning people always say that. But for (some large)% of us, the reliable way to wealth is to work at a job you enjoy and save part of the paycheck.

Sounds like common sense to me. Multitasking: At the gym, I listen to podcasts, news, and current events on my iPod. I bike to work for exercise, also. At my lunch break, I check blogs/sports news for fun while eating.

What I’m amazed at is that some people still manage to get 8 hours of sleep per night. With a wife, two kids, and a cat sharing my house, I’m lucky to get 6 solid hours of sleep!

Re: terms, this review used the term “LifeLeech” enough to tell me I really, really, don’t want to even TRY To read this book. And that was BEFORE I go to “Cre8tor”. Gag. Thanks, JD.

Re: comments on how much time you have, yes, it’s only 8 hours if you have no family /friends commitments, no commute, don’t exercise, and so on. Not to mention that “outsourcing” cleaning, cooking, and errands is itself expensive and can contribute to making things more complicated than I want to deal with.

Finally: Do we really need yet another book on the concept of “are you using your time the way you want”? Does this book really include anything that wasn’t in The Tightwad Gazette, or Simplify Your Life, or Your Money Or Your Life? I mean, besides the stupid buzzwords?

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